Transesterification of soybean oil catalyzed by potassium loaded on alumina as a solid-base catalyst

• Published in: Applied catalysis. A, General Vol. 300; no. 1; pp. 67 - 74
• Main Authors: Xie, Wenlei, Peng, Hong, Chen, Ligong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biodiesel; Calcination; Catalysis; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Heterogeneous catalyst; Loading of KNO 3 on Al 2O 3; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Transesterification; Heterogeneous catalyst; Calcination; Loading of KNO 3 on Al 2O 3; Transesterification; Biodiesel; Aluminium oxide; Catalytic reaction; Base; Solid; Heterogeneous catalysis; Soybean oil; Alumina; Potassium; Loading of KNO3 on Al2O3; Catalyst
• ISSN: 0926-860X; 1873-3875
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcata.2005.10.048

Biodiesel fuel, consisting of methyl esters of long chain fatty acids produced by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats with methanol, is a promising alternative diesel fuel regarding the limited resources of fossil fuels and the environmental concerns. In this work, an environmentally benign process for the transesterification of soybean oil to methyl esters using alumina loaded with potassium as a solid base catalyst in a heterogeneous manner was developed. The catalyst loaded KNO 3 of 35 wt.% on Al 2O 3, after being calcined at 773 K for 5 h, it was found to be the optimum catalyst, which can give the highest basicity and the best catalytic activity for this reaction. The effects of various reaction variables such as the catalyst loading, oil to methanol ratio, reaction time and temperature on the conversion of soybean oil were investigated. The catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, IR and Hammett titration method. The results indicated that K 2O derived from KNO 3 at high temperature and that the Al–O–K groups were, probably, the main reasons for the catalytic activity towards the reaction. The catalyst activity was correlated closely with its basicity as determined by the Hammett method.